Image Forming Apparatus That Receives Job Data from Host Apparatuses via Switching Hub and Calculates Communication Speed for the Host Apparatuses Based on the Job Data and Reception Required Time

1. An image forming apparatus that receives job data from one or more host apparatuses via a switching hub and executes a print process based on the job data, the image forming apparatus comprising: a speed calculating portion configured to, in a state where a communication with the switching hub has been established by a highest-speed candidate method among a plurality of candidate methods that respectively have different rated communication speeds, calculate a result communication speed for each of the one or more host apparatuses based on an amount of the received job data and a reception required time for each of the one or more host apparatuses, the candidate methods being candidates for a communication method to be adopted; and a communication setting portion configured to select, as an adopted communication method, one of the plurality of candidate methods based on the result communication speed for each of the one or more host apparatuses, and establish a communication with the switching hub by the adopted communication method; a print sensor configured to detect a print on a discharge tray that receives the print that has been obtained by an execution of the print process; and a collection wait time determining portion configured to, upon a change in a detection result of the print sensor after the execution of the print process, determine a collection wait time for each of the one or more host apparatuses, the collection wait time being a time period from a time when the execution of the print process is completed to a time when the print is taken out from the discharge tray, wherein the communication setting portion selects, as the adopted communication method, one of the plurality of candidate methods based on the result communication speed and the collection wait time for each of the one or more host apparatuses.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the communication setting portion selects, as the adopted communication method, one of the plurality of candidate methods based on the result communication speed of one of the one or more host apparatuses in which the amount of the received job data is larger than a predetermined reference data amount.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the communication setting portion selects, as the adopted communication method, one of the plurality of candidate methods based on the result communication speed of one of the one or more host apparatuses in which the collection wait time is shorter than a predetermined reference time period.